Good-humored teachers have better students

This is confirmed by the analysis of a research team from Munich, Berlin and Kiel, among other places. Teaching is not just an intellectual activity, but also an emotional one, said Marina Elena Pfeifer from Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, lead author of the study.

According to the study, teachers who enjoy what they do provide higher quality teaching, which boosts pupils' self-confidence in their abilities, interest and academic performance. In contrast, angry teachers are associated with poorer teaching and poorer learning outcomes for pupils, as the team reports in the Journal of Educational Psychology.

Data from Germany, China and Mexico

The researchers collected data from 679 math teachers and more than 17,500 students aged around 15 in eight countries. Schools in Chile, China, Colombia, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Spain and the UK were included. All classes worked on the same math lesson - the introduction of quadratic equations - to ensure good comparability.

The teachers were asked how happy or annoyed they were during the lesson using the so-called "Teacher Emotions Scale". Joy and anger were chosen because, according to previous analyses, these were the most prominent positive and negative emotions experienced by teachers. The children were asked to rate the quality of their teachers' teaching and to report on their self-confidence in their abilities and their interest in the subject. They also completed a performance test.

Teachers who felt more enjoyment were, on average, more able to teach effectively, build supportive relationships with the youngsters and use cognitively stimulating teaching strategies. This in turn was associated with higher student confidence, greater interest in learning and better test scores. Teachers who were more likely to experience anger showed poorer teaching quality on average in all three aspects, and the learning outcomes of their schoolchildren were also worse.

Self-reinforcing processes take place

Teachers presumably easily fall into self-reinforcing cycles, as Pfeifer explained. "A disgruntled teacher may have difficulty leading the class effectively, which leads to poor student performance, which in turn leads to the teacher feeling even more frustrated and unsuccessful -- a vicious cycle." A happy teacher, in turn, creates a positive spiral where effective teaching leads to student success - "which makes the teacher even happier and prouder of their work".

What was most fascinating was the consistency of results across countries, Pfeifer said. "Despite significant cultural, economic and linguistic differences, the mechanisms by which a teacher's emotions influence teaching quality and student achievement remained remarkably similar around the world."

It is important to promote positive teacher attitudes, the researchers conclude from their findings. "The most important conclusion for practice is that promoting teachers' emotional well-being is not just a 'nice extra' - it is crucial for students' learning success," says Pfeifer. Schools and policy makers should therefore prioritize the reduction of teacher stress.